Political scientists believe that even momentary failures in crisis situation can spell the end for ruling elites. The ferocious blunder for Governments is to promise moon and offer stars in lay-away plan to public. The Afghan National Unity Government committed the political fault of raising the public expectations who promised to bring sweeping reforms, ward-off notorious corrupt officials, cleanse faulty systems, and enforce laws on all and every citizen in Afghanistan during campaign and early days of its term.
Since early 2014, President Ghani was assumed to be the re-born version of King Amanullah Khan, or President Dawod Khan who called himself reformists and target oriented. Both late Afghan rulers left the unforgettable legacy; though they could not have delivered. King Amanullah was opposed and failed by so-called religious mob plotted by international conspirators where NUG is jinxing itself by digging his grave by his own hand doing faulty things. President Ghani ascended to power in the utmost grave security situation where US and NATO allies had already left Afghanistan all alone in solo fight. It is unjust to blame President Ghani for not being able defeating terrorism, but it is absolute just to say that NUG is failed to go from bad to worse situation since 2014.
No one can expect that why Terrorism has not been dismantled and defeated, but this is a worrying surprise that insurgent groups have grown to be more powerful, vigorous, and domineering in year 2019. Along with that; the emergence of more than 19 different terrorist factions in the country, the collapse of provinces from time to time and the findings of SIGAR’s report that NUG exercise less territorial control since 2001 is saddening news. Why this has happened? No one knows yet, but the obvious reason could be the NUG’s unpredictable political moves and leaps from stone to stone.
What Have gone Wrong?
From the onset, the formation of unity government has been a wrong political test with no precedence and legislative foundation. President Ghani signed-off the back-room deal with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah to carve-up political power evenly and exercise parallel ruling authorities. Not only the new power sharing phenomenal has been against the constitutional orders; the deal assumed to be the death-warrant against the nascent momentum of democratic efforts including election and respect to citizens’ votes. From the very beginning, neither Abdullah Abdullah unleashed the uncontested power to President Ghani, nor President Ghani heeded Abdullah Abdullah as his 50% power-sharing stake-holder. This way, within the government; two power blocks have been formed and political wrangling among the parties took a full show.
Afghanistan is suffering the aftermath of the past 37 years’ on-going war. The number of current active notorious politicians and heartless war-mongers of today’s Afghanistan are the outcome of the past three decades’ skirmishes. The strongmen and their cronies have put a hard grip over the financial resources, political aura, and military institutions. Not only part of the current government failures reverts to the disruptive interventions of such war-lords, but also assumed as the key bottlenecks toward reformed government system and ordered societies.
Luckily, President Ghani has been so hard against the illicit power holders but the struggles have not been divorced from politics. Many acts of reformation have been engineered to deter political dissidents for the personal political interests of NUG rather than national interests. Also, the intention behind the efforts to cripple corrupt politicians was not pluralist, inclusive and nationalistic; instead it has seen selective, politicized and unframed. Since then, no gun lord, corrupt official, and unlawful strongman has been arrested, convicted and incarcerated. Not only their power has not been limited and ended; the war-lords now even breathe in freer and unshackled ways under the eyes of Unity Government.
In addition to that, the volume of empty promises by NUG dampened the hopes toward better future. For instance, last year President Ghani announced to build 6000 new schools. In a country like Afghanistan where the heartland of the big cities such as Kabul are not safe and controlled; how the 6000 new schools in remote areas such as Ghazni, Noristan, Urozgan, Farah, Helmand and other provinces can be constructed?
After the announcement of President Ghani; Public heard the voice, believed it and stitched their eyes toward the fulfillment of the promise. Nothing has happened over the promise, instead people lost trust on ruling figures who are now paranoid and skeptical.
War against insurgent groups has been unprofessionally managed. The majority of ministers and top ranked officials of security sectors are militarily naïve and professionally incapable. Except few; there are outnumbered security sectors official who had not worked single day in security departments before they stepped in to the position. After years of working, many of them still seems unserious and sleepy with no real-world knowledge of security management in crisis situation. Regardless of other baseless political appointments in security security sectors; the new MOI and MOD ministers are the happy news but we still need to wait and see the tangible results.
For instance, the successor of a skilled and ripe policy deputy minister with over 7 years of consecutive working experience on the same position; a female deputy policy minister for ministry of interior has been appointed by President Ghani. The new MD for policy affair is 25 years old with business background and zero former experience in security sector. How on the face of earth this decision has come from? How such delegation of authority could be justified by NUG that the new DM will devise a plan to police the Afghan cities and safe-guard the nation against the outnumbered crimes in the Afghan streets?
Ladies are the indivisible part of the Afghan society and must be given fair shares of political power of all sectors, but in a country like Afghanistan where 30-50 ANSFlose life daily, 60% land is suffering daily conflict, security sectors go through dwindling budget, regional countries are playing proxies, big power countries breaches their promise toward future, and internally, the nation is heaped under the heavy foot of illegal armed strongmen; how such appointment can ensure security success? May be, NUG do not know the roles of play or appoint such young ladies to garner youngsters support for future election. Whatever the reason should be; such decision can affect the Afghans’ daily life and deject hopes for a brighter tomorrow
The new female DM for policy affairs is not the only flimsy case; a large number of unfit male ministers, deputy ministers, politically dilettante governors, and a bunch of unskilled close aides to the president who know nothing but carry hats in hand with yes-man mentalities are the poor decision taken in the past 4 years. The president by himself seems a true son of this nation with patriotic style; but unluckily enveloped by few con political artists with skeptical characters.
Since 2014, the country is not going toward betterment; instead it leaps from worse to worst situation. The Asia Foundation for Afghanistan recent report justify the claim of dark future ahead. In a country of abundant challenges, the national rulers must move forward with wise and calculated steps. Afghanistan is surrounded by treacherous neighbors, deteriorated security situation, economic recession, outnumbered terrorist groups, fractured political spheres and bleak future of all types. The Afghan government has the slightest margin of errors. Advertently or inadvertently; even a small political decision can skid-off NUG toward precipitous slides. Regardless of the inevitable nature of politics in Afghanistan; a huge number of political decisions in the past 4 years could had been taken differently. May be, the political elites will have their own play in the fuzzy game, or they naively commit wrong decisions that face the nation with blight destiny and dark future.
Shortly, NUG could have done things differently, or they may rethink on the trend and style they govern, unless the history will record this period as moments of misery and misfortune for the Afghan nation.
I still see President Ghani as a second thinker of the world and revered his worldly knowledge, but I am sure many things have gone wrong under his supervision. I hope peace, war strategy, regional diplomacy and internal polity should have designed and implemented differently as the current trends have been proven idealistic and unworkable at all.
Looking are the darkening scenario in the country, sadly “as a nation, we do not know where we are heading?
